The Erie Cook Book Revisited: Mrs. Moore's Spiced Blondies

Morgan Yezzi

A contributor to Laura Sterrett's 1881 The Erie Cook Book, Mrs. Moore provided her recipe for a spice cake utilizing all kinds of spice you can find in town. A contributor to the Erie Reader, Morgan Yezzi reworks this recipe into a chewier, more buttery spiced blondie.

Truthfully, this recipe began as a jolly good spice cake — a surprising triumph of fluff and flavor, although not exactly the cake born of "hard times." As the days went by, the cake's moisture deepened, though I was really craving a denser, spicier bite.

So I adapted the process for blondies (the recipe for which first published in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1896), which lends a new depth and chew to this classic spice cake. The result is a bold transformation, inspired by Mrs. Moore's creation. Thank you, Mrs. Moore, for your wonderful base; I hope you'd approve of my small revisions to your timeless recipe.

Yields between 9 and 12 bars.

1/2 stick of butter, melted

1 1/2 teaspoons of "all kinds of spice you can find in town" as per Mrs. Moore (like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, etc.)

1/2 cup of oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light molasses*

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 9x9 pan. **

Melt the butter and the spices together. Whisk in the oil, brown sugar, and molasses until the mixture is fully combined. Add in both eggs and whisk until the batter has a crackly sheen to it. Pour the buttermilk on top, but don't stir it in yet.

1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

Sift all of the dry ingredients over the batter and incorporate the dry into the wet by stirring until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until a tester comes out with crumbs, not batter. (The edges should appear cooked and the middle should be fluffy).

*If you don't have molasses on hand and don't want to buy it, you can add an additional 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

**A 9-inch circular pan works in place of a square as well.

Adapted from Mrs. Moore's recipe for Spice Cake on page 115 of The Erie Cook Book by Laura Sterrett

Morgan Yezzi can be found at yezball.com